Dolby Atmos 5.1.4 speakers placement for music and movies

[longard8]

I am just in a process of furnishing the living room in a new apartment. I strive for Dolby Atmos 5.1.4 speaker placement consisted of the following speakers:

Front speakers: Q Acoustics Concept 40
Center: Q Acoustics Concept Centre
Subwoofer: KEF Kube12b
Rear speakers: Q Acoustics Concept 20
Ceiling Atmos speakers: 4x Q Acoustics QI65 Professional
Receiver: Marantz SR6015

I will mainly use the audio system for music, but occasionally also for movies. As you may see from the image, the room is quite small and in addition, the couch is pushed all the way to the rear wall in the corner. This triggers several questions.

1. Obviously, I cannot meet Dolby Atmos Installation guidelines for overhead speakers, so I was wondering what would be the best compromise here? Can I put two ceiling speakers just next to the rear wall, so they would be slightly behind the listener (100-110°)?
But where exactly should I put front ceiling speakers then, should I meet 30-55° specification or rather relatively the same angle to the listener as the rear ceiling speakers, so the angle to the viewer would be symmetrical (70-80°)? Also, how wide apart should they be in my case?
Perhaps I should drop the idea of 4 ceiling speakers and only go for 2? How about the speaker choice, should I pick a different brand?

2. There is also a lack of space for rear surround speakers. It will be hard to have them at the ear level, so should I put them on a higher height and point them downwards? Any specific height recommendation?

3. Another dilemma is a subwoofer placement. I need to choose the TV stand design, so how would the one on the image work? Will it affect the bass if the subwoofer will be covered with a shelf? Do you believe that it could sound better if it was placed on the right side of the TV stand design? If it is impossible to say in advance, then I guess a design without a shelf over subwoofer would be better, so I can place it on the either side accordingly to subwoofer crawl test?

4. The last question is regarding the speaker choice. Do you find it suitable for the given room or would you recommend any other brand/models?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[TLS Guy]

I am just in a process of furnishing the living room in a new apartment. I strive for Dolby Atmos 5.1.4 speaker placement consisted of the following speakers:

Front speakers: Q Acoustics Concept 40
Center: Q Acoustics Concept Centre
Subwoofer: KEF Kube12b
Rear speakers: Q Acoustics Concept 20
Ceiling Atmos speakers: 4x Q Acoustics QI65 Professional
Receiver: Marantz SR6015

I will mainly use the audio system for music, but occasionally also for movies. As you may see from the image, the room is quite small and in addition, the couch is pushed all the way to the rear wall in the corner. This triggers several questions.

1. Obviously, I cannot meet Dolby Atmos Installation guidelines for overhead speakers, so I was wondering what would be the best compromise here? Can I put two ceiling speakers just next to the rear wall, so they would be slightly behind the listener (100-110°)?
But where exactly should I put front ceiling speakers then, should I meet 30-55° specification or rather relatively the same angle to the listener as the rear ceiling speakers, so the angle to the viewer would be symmetrical (70-80°)? Also, how wide apart should they be in my case?
Perhaps I should drop the idea of 4 ceiling speakers and only go for 2? How about the speaker choice, should I pick a different brand?

2. There is also a lack of space for rear surround speakers. It will be hard to have them at the ear level, so should I put them on a higher height and point them downwards? Any specific height recommendation?

3. Another dilemma is a subwoofer placement. I need to choose the TV stand design, so how would the one on the image work? Will it affect the bass if the subwoofer will be covered with a shelf? Do you believe that it could sound better if it was placed on the right side of the TV stand design? If it is impossible to say in advance, then I guess a design without a shelf over subwoofer would be better, so I can place it on the either side accordingly to subwoofer crawl test?

4. The last question is regarding the speaker choice. Do you find it suitable for the given room or would you recommend any other brand/models?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Your surrounds are severely misplaced in the rear corners. They should move forward so they are about 2/3 of the way down the room, with the tweeters 5' above the floor. The Atmos speakers also need to come forward, and be in line with the main speakers. So put the ceiling speakers in line with the mains, and spaced evenly between the mains and the surrounds.

What you have shown will not be satisfactory. Be careful with your sub. Unfortunately the speakers have to fire down the short dimension, and the room has no really dominant dimension. That is what you have to deal with, but getting a nice even bass will be a problem for you. The fact that the room is open on one side, might actually help you as there will be highly significant bass leakage.

Rooms like that are not really suitable for surround audio. In these situation I always ask posters to consider putting funds into much better speakers for the front three, or even just two good speakers, and forgetting about surround and Atmos. I believe that in these situations less is a lot more.